A/69/267 I. Introduction 1. The Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights Council on the rights of indigenous peoples submits the present report to the General Assembly pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 24/10. This is the first report by Victoria TauliCorpuz, who assumed her mandate on 2 June 2014. The Special Rapporteur would like to thank the Human Rights Council for entrusting her with this important task and she commits herself to carrying out this mandate in an impartial and constructive manner. She also would like to express her gratitude to the numerous indigenous groups and organizations that have already engaged with her as she assumed her mandate and affirms her strong commitment to her role as Special Rapporteur, acknowledging, with humility, the responsibility it repres ents. 2. The present report focuses on indigenous peoples’ economic, social and cultural rights in the development context, and specifically within the post -2015 development framework. As noted in her first report to the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/27/52), the economic, social, cultural and environmental rights of indigenous peoples will be a principal thematic focus of the Special Rapporteur ’s three-year mandate. Given that the General Assembly is currently in the process of reviewing and adopting the post-2015 development agenda, which includes work towards the adoption of global sustainable development goals, the Special Rapporteur is taking this opportunity to provide some thoughts on this crucial issue for indigenous peoples, in the hope that these comments may help guide Member States and others as they reflect on development priorities. 3. The report offers an overview of the human rights framework and of concerns related to the development of indigenous peoples: part II provides a background of the historical context; part III details relevant human rights standards, which should be viewed in the light of the cross-cutting rights of indigenous peoples to non-discrimination and self-determination; part IV describes lessons learned and identifies obstacles and advances in achieving the economic, social and cultural rights of indigenous peoples; and part V contains brief conclusions and recommendations for addressing these concerns in the context of the forthcoming policies and strategies to reach global sustainable development goals. II. The historical context 4. The Special Rapporteur notes that the concept of development has always had an ambiguous connotation in the context of indigenous peoples. Historically, in the era of colonization and nation-building, development largely implied the submission of indigenous peoples, who had previously enjoyed their right to self -determination. Seen through the eyes of the colonizers and rulers, indigenous peoples were hardly considered human beings, and many were exploited as forced or underpaid labourers in plantations and mines and in other resource-extraction activities. In other cases, indigenous peoples were pushed to marginal areas, while more productive lands and easily accessible resources benefitted the rulers and dominant groups. The most egregious example of this was the taking of indigenous peoples ’ lands and resources for the benefit of the majority — for their economic growth and in other terms — with devastating impacts on a range of their human rights. 14-58847 3/23